The present invention relates to spectral decomposition devices and the manufacturing of the same and in particular to spectral decomposition devices which are manufactured from substrate stacks.
In conventional technology, basically two main groups of spectroscopic systems are described, in particular scanning spectrometers.
The first group is made up of discretely set-up, macroscopic systems. The individual functional elements are separately manufactured for such systems and subsequently individually mounted. Adjustment and calibration is here done during mounting by the use of several suitable adjustment devices.
The second group is made up of partially integrated, hybridly set-up, miniaturized systems. With such systems, as described in DE 10 2008 019 600 A1, several functional elements are integrated in one mainly miniaturized component. For example, the entry and exit gaps may be integrated together via microtechnical manufacturing methods in a substrate which may simultaneously be part of the housing, or the grid/grating and its drive may be present as a highly integrated microtechnologically manufactured unit. The setup of multifunctional, miniaturized optomechanical building groups enables a substantially smaller construction, however presents substantially higher requirements on the manufacturing of the integrated functional elements and, apart from that, limits the possibilities for adjustment and calibration.
The greatly limited adjustment possibilities in contrast to the discretely set-up macroscopic scanning grating spectrometers may have a negative effect on economic manufacturing which is increased due to the high requirements on the manufacturing and the costs involved. Thus, for example in the variants described in DE 10 2008 019 600 A1, a distance adjustment in the staple direction of the involved substrates turns out to be difficult. The distances of the functional elements to each other, which are located in or at the substrates, are then basically determined by the thicknesses of the substrates and their respective tolerances. The functional principle of the variants described in DE 10 2008 019 600 A1 then, however, generally needs relatively tight thickness tolerances of the involved substrates.
Further, in both groups of spectrometers having a scanning grating, different system variants having different spectral characteristics and spectral ranges may basically only be achieved by changing the system design and the interconnected changes to the functional elements. Thus, e.g. the spectral range of the variants described in DE 10 2008 019 600 A1 among others depends on the lateral position of the exit gap in the substrate. A change of this position, however, needs at least one modified layout for the respective substrate. A standardization of different substrate designs in this case is not possible. Every variation in the system thus generates additional manufacturing costs.